Eyelet

ABSTRACT

Provided is an eyelet in which a mounting strength to a material is equal to or higher than that in a two-piece type using a washer, and which can Solve a problem of an eyelet coming off of a mounting hole of the material due to material cutting or expansion and contraction of the material during swaging or in use. By holing the material between the tip of each of claws which have been cut and raised from a flange toward the material and the inner surface of a flange-backing portion, a mounting strength of the eyelet can be acquired without concentrating a material-pressing force at one place; the end of the flange-backing portion can be prevented from acting as a cutting edge to cut the material; and an additional position to hold the material is provided, which is different from the holding position by between the end of the flange-backing portion and the end of the flange.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an eyelet to be mounted to a mounting hole which has been formed in a material such as cloths for clothing, and more specifically, to an eyelet to be mounted to a mounting hole without a washer.

Conventionally, an eyelet has been used in a material such as cloths for clothing, cover sheets, shoes. The eyelet is mounted to a mounting hole which has previously been formed in the material by swaging the eyelet so as to hold a part of the material. There are two types in eyelet, namely, two-piece type with a combination of an eyelet and a washer, and one-piece type without a washer. An eyelet in the two-piece type includes a stud to be passed through the mounting hole and a flange extending continuously and radially outward from an end of the stud. When the two-piece eyelet is to be mounted to the material, after the stud is passed through the mounting hole and then the washer, the stud is swaged to the flange so as to hold a part of the material around the mounting hole and the washer.

As shown in FIG. 10, a two-piece eyelet 100 adopts a construction where a part 101 of the material around the mounting hole is pressed by the end 107 of a flange 105 of an eyelet 103 against a washer 109. Therefore, if a material to which the eyelet is mounted is relatively thin, the material may be cut by the end 107 like a cutting edge pressing against the washer 109, which may cause the eyelet to come off of the hole. Further, the material part around the mounting hole is held only by between the end of the a flange 105 and the washer 109, when a relatively thin material with elasticity or flexibility as in knit fabric, the eyelet would come off of the hole due to expansion and contraction of the material.

To realize facilitation in mounting of an eyelet and simplification of an eyelet construction, several one-piece eyelets comprising a eyelet alone without a washer have previously been proposed, representative examples of which are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,907,647 (see FIG. 11), EP Published Application No. 1,935,273 (see FIG. 12), EP Patent No. 673611 (see FIG. 13), etc.

A one-piece eyelet 200 as shown in FIG. 11 is constructed to hold a material 112 by pressing the outer surface of a flange-backing portion 209, which has been formed by swaging a stud of an eyelet 203, against the inner surface of a flange 205. The end 207 of the flange 205 is a free end. A one-piece eyelet 300 as shown in FIG. 12 is constructed to hold a material 112 by pressing the end of a flange-backing portion 309, which has been formed by swaging a stud of an eyelet 303, against the tips of claws 313, which have been formed by cutting parts of a flange 305 and raising them from the inner surface of the flange. The end 307 of the flange 305 is a free end as with that in FIG. 11.

On the other hand, in a one-piece eyelet 400 as shown in FIG. 13, the end 407 of a flange 405 presses a material 112 to hold it against the end 411 of a flange-backing portion 409, which has been formed by swaging a stud of an eyelet 403. However, there are a plurality of projections 413 provided on the inner surface of the flange 405, the projections 413 pointing downward. The projections 413 form a “maze” in a space 415 between the flange 405 and the flange-backing portion 409 so as for the material to get caught in the maze. For the sake of involving the material within the space 415 between the flange 405 and the flange-backing portion 409, the distal end 416 of each of the projections 413 is a free end without contacting the inner surface of the flange-backing portion 409.

However, since those prior-art one-piece eyelets are constructed to hold a material part around a mounting hole between a flange or its inner surface and a flange-backing portion, they would be inferior to two-piece eyelets with a washer in terms of a mounting strength to a material. Further, the problem that one-piece eyelets come off of a mounting hole due to material cutting during swaging or in use or due to elastic stretch with a relatively thin material has not been sufficiently solved yet.

[Patent document 1] U.S. Pat. No. 6,907,647 [Patent document 2] EP Published Application No. 1,935,273 [Patent document 3] EP Patent No. 673611

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the invention is to provide a one-piece type eyelet in which a mounting strength to a material is equal to or higher than that in a two-piece type using a washer, and which can solve a problem of an eyelet coming off of a mounting hole of the material due to material cutting or expansion and contraction of the material during swaging or in use.

According to the invention, there is provided an eyelet to be mounted to a mounting hole which has been formed in a material comprising: a flange which is to be placed around the mounting hole; and a flange-backing portion integral with the flange, which is to be placed around the mounting hole at a position opposite to the flange to hold a part of the material around the mounting hole against the flange; wherein the flange has a plurality of claws arranged in the circumferential direction with a given space therebetween, the claws being cut and raised toward an inner surface of the flange-backing portion, each of the claws having one or more tips facing the inner surface of the flange-backing portion, wherein the flange-backing portion and the flange hold the part of the material therebetween, and the tips and the inner surface of the flange-backing portion hold the part of the material therebetween.

In the invention, the tips of the claws in the flange can pierce a relatively thin material and contact the inner surface of the flange-backing portion, and the tips would not pierce a material if the material is relatively thick. In the invention, the claws can be formed so that the tips point radially outward or radially inward, or each tip of adjacent two claws in the circumferential direction can point to each other. Alternatively, the claws can be provided in the flange in a random fashion. In the invention, each of the claws can have a plurality of tips, and the tips of the claws are made sharp or tapered.

In the invention with a one-piece type eyelet, a mounting strength to a material is equal to or higher than that in a two-piece type using a washer, and a unit price can be reduced due to decreased costs in material and production of the eyelet. Further, the weight of the mounted eyelet and the load of mounting the eyelet by a worker can be reduced. In addition to the effects, a problem of an eyelet coming off due to material cutting or expansion and contraction of a material during swaging or in use can be solved.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an upper perspective view of an eyelet prior to being swaged as a one-piece type eyelet according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a top view of the eyelet in FIG. 1 viewed from the arrow F;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing the eyelet in FIG. 1 prior to being mounted to a mounting hole of a material;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a state where the one-piece eyelet according to the present invention has been attached to a relatively thick material, in a case of the material in FIG. 3 being relatively thick;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing a state where the one-piece eyelet according to the present invention has been attached to a relatively thin material;

FIG. 6 is a top view, similar to FIG. 2, showing another embodiment of one-piece type eyelet according to the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a partial view showing an example of claws;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a one piece type eyelet according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a top view, similar to FIG. 2, of a one piece type eyelet according to still another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a partial sectional view of a prior-art two-piece type eyelet using a washer.

FIG. 11 is a partial sectional view showing an example of a prior-art one-piece type eyelet.

FIG. 12 is a partial sectional view showing another example of a prior-art one-piece type eyelet.

FIG. 13 is a partial sectional view showing still another example of a prior-art one-piece type eyelet.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, a one-piece type eyelet according to the present invention will be described in detail with referring to FIGS. 1 to 5. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an eyelet 10 prior to being swaged. The eyelet 10 is typically made of metal such as brass, iron, nickel, aluminum, etc. The eyelet 10 comprises a hollow and cylindrical stud 16, which can be passed through a mounting hole 14 formed through a material 12 (FIG. 3) such as a cloth and a resin sheet, and a flange 18 to be placed on a part of the material 12 around the mounting hole 14. The flange 18 extends continuously and radially outward from the lower end of the stud 16 in the FIG. 3 example.

At the time of mounting the eyelet 10 to the mounting hole 14 as an annular one-piece eyelet 22 as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 by swaging the stud 16 after the stud 16 has passed through the mounting hole 14, the outer end 34 of the flange 18 holds the material part around the mounting hole 14 against the outer end 28 of a flange-backing portion 30, which has been formed by the swaging. In the invention, there are formed in the flange 18 a plurality of claws 24 in the circumferential direction of the flange 18 with a predetermined space between adjacent two claws 24. Each of the claws 24 can be cut and previously raised from the flange 18 or can be cut in place and subsequently raised from the flange 18 toward the material at the time of mounting the eyelet as shown in FIG. 8.

Each of the claws 24, which has been raised from the flange 18 toward the material 12, generally tapers to a sharp-point forming an edge having an acute angle less than 90°. If the material is relatively thin, the tip 26 or the edge of each of the claws pierces the material and then presses the inner surface 32 engaging with the surface. If the material is relatively thick, each tip 26, presses the inner surface 32 via the material holding the material against the surface 32. Each claw 24 adjusts the amount of compression of a material between the outer end 28 of the flange-backing portion 30 and the outer end 34 of the flange 18 at the time of swaging by pressing the inner surface 32 of the flange-backing portion 30 as described above. Thereby, each claw 24 can prevent the outer end 28 of the flange-backing portion 30 from acting as a cutting edge to cut a material, while providing an additional position to hold a material which is different from the holding position by between the outer end 28 of the flange-backing portion 30 and the outer end 34 of the flange 18.

Hereinafter, a process to mount the one-piece eyelet 22 according to the present invention to the mounting hole 14 of the material 12 will be described in sequence. In this example, the claws 24 are arranged in the circumferential direction of the flange 18 and have been previously cut and raised prior to swaging. Firstly, the stud 16 of the eyelet 10 is passed through the mounting hole 14 of the material 12, and then the flange 18 is placed on a part of the material around the mounting hole 14. Secondly, the stud 16 is swaged to form the integral with the flange 18 by extending the end 28 of the stud 16 radially outward and toward the flange 18.

The flange-backing portion 30 is continuously swaged and the material part around the mounting hole 14 is put in a space between the flange 18 and the flange-backing portion 30 with material part pressed by each tip 26 of the claws. As shown in FIG. 5. if the material 12 is relatively thin, each claw 26 pierces the material 12 and then contacts the inner surface 32 of the flange-backing portion while pressing the surface. As shown in FIG. 4, if the material 12 is relatively thick, each claw 26 presses the material 12 against the inner surface 32.

By the swaging, the outer end 28 of the flange-backing portion 30 also comes to press the material 12 against the inner surface of the flange 18 near at the outer end 34 of the flange 18. However, with the claws 24 pressing the inner surface 32 of the flange-backing portion 30, the amount of compression of the material between the outer end 28 of the flange-backing portion 30 and the inner surface of the flange 18 near at the outer end 34 is restricted. Therefore, a cutting edge such as the end 107 of the flange against the washer 109 of the prior-art example in FIG. 10 would not be formed, remarkably decreasing the possibility that the material is cut, compared to prior-art two -piece or one-piece eyelet.

Further, in the one-piece eyelet according to the invention, by holding the material between the flange-backing portion and the flange and between the tips of the claws and the inner surface of the flange-backing portion, the material part is not excessively held between the end of the flange-backing portion and the end of the flange as in prior art. In other words, it is unnecessary to concentrate a material-pressing force at one place, which can solve the problem of the eyelet coming off the material. In addition, when the tip of each of the claws is made sharp or tapered, the claws become easy to bite into the material increasing the mounting strength of the eyelet to the material. When the tip of each of the claws is to pierce the material, the piercing will be easy.

While the present invention has been described with reference to the examples, it should be appreciated that a variety of modifications can be made with in the scope of the invention. For instance, though the claws 24 have been explained, in the FIGS. 1 and 2 example, as ones whose tips 26 point radially outward and are arranged in the circumferential direction of the flange, the claws can be formed as shown in FIG. 9 as long as the following conditions are fulfilled. That is, if the material is relatively thin, each claw pierces the material and then presses and contacts the inner surface of the flange-backing portion, or if the material is relatively thick, each claw presses the inner surface of the flange-backing portion with the material put between each claw and the inner surface, and the flange end 34 and the end 28 of the flange-backing portion 30 can adjust the space between the ends while they do not serve as a cutting edge which may cut the material. As shown in FIG. 9, the tips 26 of the claws 24 are all formed to point radially inward. Alternatively, the tips can be formed such that ones pointing to radially outward and ones pointing to radially inward are arranged alternately in the circumferential direction, or each tip of adjacent two claws in the circumferential direction can point to each other, or the claws can be provided in the flange 18 in a random fashion. Further, as shown in FIG. 6, it is possible that claws 24′, each of which has a plurality of tips 26′, are formed in the flange 18 in the circumferential direction under the above-described manners. The tip of each of the claws 24 can be rounded as shown in FIG. 7.

DESCRIPTION OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

-   10 eyelet -   12 material -   14 mounting hole -   16 stud -   18 flange -   20 end -   22 eyelet -   24 claw -   26 tip -   28 end -   30 flange-backing portion -   32 inner surface -   34 end 

1. An eyelet to be mounted to a mounting hole which has been formed in a material comprising: a flange which is to be placed around the mounting hole; and a flange-backing portion integral with the flange, which is to be placed around the mounting hole at a position opposite to the flange to hold a part of the material around the mounting hole against the flange; wherein the flange has a plurality of claws arranged in the circumferential direction with a given space therebetween, the claws being cut and raised toward an inner surface of the flange-backing portion, each of the claws having one or more tips facing the inner surface of the flange-backing portion, wherein the flange-backing portion and the flange hold the part of the material therebetween, and the tips and the inner surface of the flange-backing portion hold the part of the material therebetween.
 2. The eyelet according to claim 1, wherein the one or more tips of each of the claws can pierce the material and press and contact the inner surface of the flange-backing portion.
 3. The eyelet according to claim 1, wherein the one or more tips of each of the claws can press the inner surface of the flange-backing portion via the material without piercing the material.
 4. The eyelet according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the claws are formed so that the tips point radially outward in the flange.
 5. The eyelet according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the claws are formed so that the tips point radially inward in the flange.
 6. The eyelet according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the tips of the claws are made sharp. 